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Home » Instagram » Me and my boys can’t be the only ones that eat our spare water kefir grains, right? We went through a stage where they weren’t reproducing, but having tried some really dark unrefined cane sugar they are going crazy and I have so many. This lot is for my son, age 5, to munch on…he goes crazy for them!
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Me and my boys can’t be the only ones that eat our spare water kefir grains, right? We went through a stage where they weren’t reproducing, but having tried some really dark unrefined cane sugar they are going crazy and I have so many. This lot is for my son, age 5, to munch on…he goes crazy for them!

March 13, 2020 by Ali

Previous PostOne of the reasons I moved my life to Italy in my hands: easily-accessible, local, organic food. Back in the UK, it took a lot of work for me to find UK grown and milled rye flour. Here, near Florence, there’s a fully organic farm, championing ancient grains and regenerative agriculture, literally a few miles from my house. That mans I can make sourdough, 85% wholegrain, rye bread that is hyper-local. It’s what I believe food should be and I feel such deep joy at being part of its creation in my kitchen.
Next PostI’ve been making 100% wholegrain spelt sourdough pizzas for about a year now. I feel like I’ve got the dough and the fermentation sorted, but the transfer to the oven and cooking to perfection is still a work in progress (it hasn’t helped that, in that time, I’ve moved my family from the UK to Italy and we’ve passed through many kitchens!). My 5-year old loves eating the results, whatever. That makes me a happy Mumma.

Recent Posts

  • Rendering lard today with fat from @valledelsasso. We use lard as a cooking medium (for everything from pancakes to chard) and also as spread, much like butter. . It’s easy to render from back fat at home in a slow cooker. I get up early and put the slow cooker on low. I chop the fat into c. 2cm cubes (as you can see here) and then pop it in the cooker with the lid on. Every hour or so I tip the contents of the cooking pot into a metal sieve above a metal bowl. The liquid fat drains through and then I pop the solid fat back into the cooking pot. . The whole process usually takes about 9 hours. By tea-time we have warm, crunchy lard ‘niblets’ (as my son calls them) which are truly heavenly. I freeze 2/3rds of the fat and the supply (from 3kg back fat) will last us a month. . Do you render your own?
  • Breakfast fit for a king (well, my 7 year-old thinks he *is* The King, at least in our house!): Sourdough spelt pancake, local watermelon, ‘waste’ water kefir grains, ground linseed and soaked and dehydrated crunchy almonds. . He then gets to be in charge of the olive oil bottle, liberally dousing the goodies. . We usually eat a incidentally vegan breakfast. I wholeheartedly believe that any sustainable agricultural process needs animals at its core, but it doesn’t mean we eat their produce with every meal. This plate will be devoured by a little man who eats animal produce (including offal and lots of fat) at other meals and – importantly for me – everything on the dish comes from Italy, most of it from Tuscany. . I’d love to hear whether ancestral eating for you means animal produce at every meal and how you feel about the non-animal foods that you have available locally.
  • Spelt sourdough with left-over oat porridge mixed in before the fermentation. This is such an easy way to give a spelt loaf a softer crumb and to make it last longer…let alone the lovely oat tang you get. . If you want to try this, there’s a recipe linked in my profile for Spelt Sourdough with a ‘scald’. Just replace the scald bit with the same weight of cold porridge. Works a treat. . And if you are a porridge fan, do check out my fermented oats video (also linked in my profile) where I talk you through how to make a breaky that’s super tasty and super-healthy!
  • Gabriel, my 7 year-old son, loves being in the kitchen…but ideally he wants to be there on *his* terms. That means Mum has no say over what the ingredients are and what is done with them, she’s just there to reach/do the things he can’t. . Sometimes this produces ‘interesting’ results, but I like to let him do it. Because I want him to feel creatively expressed, because it’s fun and because I actually learn so much from him. (And Dadda can usually be relied on to eat whatever comes of the session!) . This morning was a winner. He took some local plums, chopped and cooked them on the hob, adding cinnamon. He then stirred in some of my fermented oat drink, swats. It ended up as a tart, sweet and warm fruit jam. Then he cut up some apple slices and served the dish as part of our lunch. . He ate almost all of it. I think that’s well-deserved! . Picture of the chef with his creation in my story today.
  • Cooking three meals a day from scratch, fermenting and baking bread – they all require kitchen equipment. But how much of it is actually essential? What’s really useful, and how do you manage it in a small space? . Andrea and I tackle this topic in today’s podcast episode. We talk about the equipment we have, how we use it and what we couldn’t live without. . I’d love to hear what you use in your home. What are your top 3 kitchen tools? . You can find @ancestralkitchenpodcast in all the usual places, or download/stream it from the link in my profile.

Recent Comments

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